Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical characteristic measuring method for measuring an optical characteristic of an optical system usable to produce an electronic device including, for example, semiconductor elements and liquid crystal display elements in the lithography step; an optical characteristic adjusting method for adjusting the optical characteristic of the optical system; an exposure apparatus provided with the optical system adjusted in accordance with the adjusting method; an exposure method based on the use of the exposure apparatus; and an exposure apparatus producing method for producing the exposure apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
For example, when a semiconductor element or a liquid crystal display element, etc. is produced, an exposure apparatus is used to expose a substrate (a glass plate, a semiconductor wafer, etc.) coated with a resist via an optical system (projection optical system) with a pattern formed on a mask (for example, a reticle or a photomask). It is necessary for the exposure apparatus to project the pattern formed on the mask onto the substrate at a high resolution. Therefore, the optical system, which is provided for the exposure apparatus, is designed to have satisfactory optical characteristics in which various aberrations are sufficiently corrected.
However, it is difficult to produce the optical system as exactly as designed. The optical system, which is actually produced, has any optical characteristic which is different from the designed optical characteristic in some cases. Therefore, it is necessary that the optical characteristic of the produced optical system should be measured to adjust the optical characteristic of the optical system based on an obtained measurement result. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-121498 describes a technique for measuring an optical characteristic of an optical system, wherein an aperture, which is provided on a substrate stage, is moved relative to a spatial image of a measuring pattern formed via the optical system to obtain a light intensity distribution of the spatial image of the measuring pattern passing through the aperture so that the optical characteristic of the imaging optical system is measured based on the amount of change of the obtained intensity distribution of the spatial image.